NOVA #10-12 (1994)

Nova teams up with a bunch of guys (who all get “TMs” after their names on the cover) and fights Diamondhead again. During the fight, he gets a memory flash of being a soldier for Xandar–allied with Diamondhead and committing genocide.

Diamondhead then “turns into” Rhino, and Darkhawk is there. Rich Rider realizes he is hallucinating. I’ve tagged Diamondhead as a character appearing, but honestly I can’t tell if actually did.

Nova goes to the Fantastic Four’s building to get help, where he finds Ant-Man, She-Hulk and Thing.

While he is there, Doctor Doom attacks with a hypnotized and weaponized Hulk and Dragon Man. (I’m tagging them, too, even though they’re robots, because readers who are fans of the characters might want to see these issues.)

They’re all androids.

After the fight they debate forming a new FF. It’s a tribute panel to the classic final panel of FF #1.

And then Nick Fury swoops in demanding answers about some of Nova’s recent activities. Issue #12 has Fury interrogating Nova, with guest art by Dario Carrasco (Chris Marrinan writes and draws the other issues in this post, by his lonesome–but he is credited as “Tom” Marrinan). Fury lets Nova go after realizing he’s a good guy (the whole scene feels like filler), and then Nova 0:0 returns to warn Nova that Deathstorm is still approaching Earth.

Of course, the two of them fight, wind up on the moon, and meet The Inhumans.

Let’s stop there. The next issue, #13, is the first issue in 1995 and marks the “countdown to Deathstorm.”

Nova never learns that a “shadow consortium” are behind all the robot attacks. But honestly, it’s hard to care about that–there’s a lot packed into these issues and we, as readers, know the truth.

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